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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. net — for catching
  3. ground — crushed
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. pit — in a race
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mug — a face
  9. ground — a position
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. ground — the earth
  12. mate — a partner
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mug — a cup
  15. perch — the fish
  16. mate — to breed
  17. mug — to rob
  18. pit — a hole
  19. mate — a friend
  20. cold — an illness
  21. net — after costs
  22. net — in sport
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com